Sparks could fly at Bayern Munich following Wednesday’s crunch home match against Liverpool with club president Uli Hoeness set to confront Germany coach Joachim Loew over the ditching of three Bayern stars.
Loew is not popular with Bayern since telling Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels last Tuesday in a face-to-face meeting in Munich that their international careers are over.
Bayern’s senior bosses were furious with the timing of Loew’s announcement, a week before Wednesday’s crunch return leg of a Champions League last 16 tie at home to Liverpool following a goalless first leg at Anfield.
Hoeness, never one to hold back whenever Bayern feel slighted, told Bavarian radio Bayerischen Rundfunk that he wants to speak to Loew face-to-face.
“I will try to speak to him personally after the match and give him my opinion on the subject,” said the Bayern’s president ominously.
The finality of Loew’s decision to ditch the trio of 2014 World Cup winners has left football experts in Germany bemused.
In the wake of the dismal German performance at last year’s World Cup, Loew says he wants a fresh start in 2019.
On Friday he announces his squad for a friendly against Serbia next Wednesday in Wolfsburg, four days before a Euro 2020 qualifier against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
Loew, 59, is expected to sit in the VIP are at the Allianz Arena just a few metres from Mueller, who is suspended for the match, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Hoeness, to watch the Liverpool game.
Mueller, who made 100 appearances and scored 38 goals in a glittering Germany career, said he is ‘angry’ at Loew’s decision.
In an emotional video, posted after Loew’s decision, Mueller said “the game isn’t over” and magazine Sport Bild report that the 29-year-old hopes to change the mind of Germany’s coach.
Hummels and Boateng, both 30, have also expressed their surprise and disappointment at Loew’s decision and even Jurgen Klopp, who coached Hummels at Dortmund for seven years, was bemused.
“As a coach, you can say who is the best, but the fact they are no longer going to be selected, I don’t understand,” said Liverpool’s German manager on Tuesday.
“Perhaps someone can explain it to me.
“Jogi (Loew) must do things as he seems fit, but as always, us trainers are measured by (the results) we deliver.”
Mueller, Hummels and Boateng, all shone in Saturday’s 6-0 mauling of Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga and Klopp expects Boateng and Hummels to play well against Liverpool on Wednesday.
“It may be that the three players are now given a bit of a push,” said Klopp.
“I know Mats very well. They will want to show a reaction. They will have more power, because they can rest during international breaks.
“Loew has the right not to select players, I just do not know if it is right to say they won’t be nominated again.”
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